Bold McDonald

In triple OT, a Celtic reserve had his day against the Suns

January 28, 2010|Stan Grossfeld, Globe Staff

Another in an occasional series on memorable Boston sports figures who had their 15 minutes of fame.
LOS ANGELES - Glenn McDonald sits near courtside at the Staples Center as an advance scout for the Utah Jazz and immediately starts charting plays. It’s a mundane Monday night contest between two cellar dwellers, the Los Angeles Clippers and Minnesota Timberwolves. The announced attendance is 13,614, but the Clippers must be counting fingers and toes, not just people. Spectators sneak glimpses at the 6-foot-6-inch McDonald while he charts the game. Sporting a world championship ring, he’s somebody. But who?

McDonald is the unlikely hero of the Celtics’ triple-overtime victory in Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns. Regarded as one of the greatest games ever played, the win led to the last championship banner for the old-guard Celtics of Havlicek, Nelson, Cowens, and White. Their uniform numbers now hang from the Garden rafters, but it was McDonald - a seldom-used swingman - who came off the bench to score 6 points in 63 seconds and spark the Celtics to victory.

It would be the last time he played for the Celtics on the fabled parquet before vanishing into obscurity. He would be out of the NBA by the time he was 24.

“My wife and daughter told me to wear it tonight,’’ he says, spinning the ring on his finger. “It’s an old-school, traditional championship ring. No bling-bling, which I really appreciate.

“I’m proud to have it. But I don’t go around saying, ‘Hey, I played for the Celtics.’ That’s just not me.’’

For the last 14 years, McDonald has also served as director of intramurals at Long Beach State, where he was an All-America guard before the Celtics drafted him in the first round in 1974. He deliberately keeps a low profile, but with ESPN Classic and YouTube, he is now known to a new generation of students.

“They see the triple-OT game and say, ‘Oh, Mr. McDonald, I didn’t know you played for the Celtics.’ ’’

McDonald never brings up the game; He believes that what’s done is done. He was surprised he even played.

“It was an amazing game,’’ recalls McDonald. “I played a few minutes earlier in the game in regulation in the first half, then nothing after that. I sat and watched and watched.’’

Pressed into service

The series was tied at two games apiece. The Celtics had a 9-point lead with 3:49 to go. But the underdog Suns, who had finished the regular season just two games over .500, never gave up,

“I thought we were going to knock ’em out, but they came storming back,’’ McDonald says.

At the end of the second overtime, John Havlicek banked in an off-balance, 15-foot jumper for the apparent game-winner. The clock read “0:00.’’

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